Amazon Publishing VP Jeff Belle revealed some rare sales stats in an email sent to literary agents this week. PaidContent has a copy of the whole email.

Since December, Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint has sold more than 250,000 copies of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series. In addition, AmazonCrossing authors Oliver Pötzsch have both sold half a million books in their life-to-date sales with Amazon.

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To accompany the feature, we brought back a post from last year when The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman rocketed up (pictured, click to enlarge) on Amazon’s Kindle bestseller list.

We caught up with author Ferriss to find out how he built his massive online audience. He first urged writers to avoid a four common mistakes–read the complete interview below…

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Amazon has launched a new feature allowing readers to send questions directly to the author while reading a Kindle eBook. The pilot program only works with a dozen authors currently, including Susan Orlean, Timothy Ferriss, C. J. Lyons and J. A. Konrath.

If you want to send one of these authors an in-book question, you’ll need to connect your Twitter account to Amazon and keep your question below 100 characters. Highlight the passage you are reading and type your question using “@author” at the beginning of the phrase. If you have a longer question, visit the particular author’s page and click “Ask a question.”

Lyons has already answered a question about choosing the best eBook cover image: “E-book covers are often viewed at thumbnail size so I recommend keeping them as simple as possible. No more than three elements, if possible. Test them at the smallest size to make sure your name is easily readable and that the cover “pops.” A great example of the difference between print and e-book covers is my book SNAKE SKIN–check out the differences. The trade paperback (a fairly large size) looks gorgeous but is too busy for the e-book, hence two different covers. If you want more info on indy e-pubbing, I have a series of blog posts and resources here.”

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The 4-Hour Chef is scheduled for April 2012, applying Ferriss’ strategies from The 4-Hour Body to food in a “a practical but unusual guide to mastering food and cooking.” Stephen Hanselman of LevelFiveMedia negotiated the deal. If you want to use Ferriss’ promotional techniques, check out our interview: How Timothy Ferriss Hit the Amazon Bestseller List.

Ferriss explained his move in the release: “My decision to collaborate with Amazon Publishing wasn’t just a question of which publisher to work with … It was a question of what future of publishing I want to embrace. My readers are migrating irreversibly into digital, and it made perfect sense to work with Amazon to try and redefine what is possible.  This is a chance to really show what the future of books looks like, and to deliver a beautiful experience to my readers, who always come first.”

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